When I first started using Obsidian, it felt intimidating. Creating a note wasn’t as easy as it was in other apps. But little by little, I started putting together my setup and adding community plugins that gave me the look and features I needed to structure my notes the way I wanted.

After months with Obsidian, I wish someone had recommended the following plugins from the get-go, because they would’ve made everything much easier. So you don’t have to go through what I went through and feel lost when creating your notes. Here are the must-have plugins I recommend for beginners. If I could go back to day one, I would install Make.md, Calendar, Kanban, and Omnisearch.

Make.md makes my vault easier to navigate

Spaces keep my key notes and links in one place

Make.md is a plugin I never uninstalled because it gives me more options for organizing my notes. Unlike in the core Obsidian setup, where I can only sort files by name, modified time, or created time, Make.md lets me put the folder I use the most at the top inside Spaces for an easy find.

With Make.md I can also create Spaces that turn a folder into a custom dashboard, so I can pin my most important notes, group related projects, and see everything laid out exactly the way I need. It’s a quick way to stop digging through the sidebar every time I want to jump back into my main notes. I can also give my notes some style by adding a cover image at the top. So, if my notes are about Windows 11, I can add an image of the logo.

Omnisearch helps me find notes fast

It searches through tags and copy to find what I need

Omnisearch is one of the community plugins I recommend to beginners. It’s better at finding my notes when I can’t remember the exact wording. I can type a partial phrase, and it shows me the closest match. It’s been helpful when I’ve needed to search inside PDFs or pull up images based on the text they contain, thanks to Text Extractor plugin (OCR) once I enabled it.

It’s also great when I only remember one weird phrase from a note, not the title. I can type that fragment and still have the plugin show the correct file. When I press Ctrl + P -> Omnisearch: Vault search, and type what I remember, I can also see a small preview of the file that matches my query. That way, I can get context on the file and see if it’s the one I’m looking for.

Kanban keeps my projects easy to see

One board shows what's next without digging through notes

I like using Kanban because it helps me get the bigger picture of my projects in one place. I can see how my thoughts connect, and if I notice anything that needs to be moved, I can do so without affecting the overall setup. Since I’m more of a visual learner, I installed and kept this plugin.

Since I’m always working on various projects, if there is one I need to keep a close eye on, it always goes through my three Kanban phases: Draft, In progress, and Done. As I progress with the project, I move the card across the board until it’s done. I don’t know about you, but I’ve forgotten to mark a task done more than once. So that doesn’t happen again, I’ve set up the Done column, so every time I drag a card there, it automatically marks it as done. I only need to click the dots in the column header -> Edit list -> Mark cards in this list as complete.

A better way to start with Obsidian without overthinking it

Obsidian can seem intimidating when you start using it without any previous tips. After using Obsidian for some time now, I wish I started using these plugins from day one. My notes would have been easier to read, and I would have stopped using third-party apps since there were plugins that did the same job. I also would’ve saved myself a lot of time. Instead of clicking around, trying to remember where I put something.

My advice to all new Obsidian users is to start small and build from there. Pick one plugin and take your time setting it up. Once you feel comfortable with it, move on to the next one. Each of the plugins I mentioned has features that every Obsidian user should have from day one. Also, don’t forget to regularly check for updates in Obsidian, since it doesn’t show you a notification for any pending updates.